quinimdb
(Warning: Don't read any reviews before watching this movie. It's best to go into this one completely blind.)When a couple goes on a seemingly innocent trip, the woman in the relationship seemingly vanishes after they take a short stop at a gas station. And now we have The Vanishing, one of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time.The most interesting thing about this film is how it gains it's suspense. It's not through not knowing who the murderer is or not knowing when or who he'll strike next, it's gained through the idea that we don't know how and why the murderer did it. The murderer is revealed quite early in the movie, and he generally seems like a normal guy. He has a wife and kids and friends, one of which who laughs at the thought of him being a murderer. The film suggests that anyone we know could be a murderer and we may not know it.The main character of the film, the man in the relationship, has been looking for his former girlfriend for 3 years and even though he no longer believes she is alive, he is still obsessed with finding out what exactly happened to her, some would say out of pure curiosity and some would say because of fate. When everyone else (including the police) has given up searching for answers, he continues, and eventually he finds them. And where it brings him eventually is possibly because it simply was supposed to happen that way. The same reason that this happened in the first place, out of pure fate. And in a world where the murderer will probably get away and no one will ever know it was him, maybe they deserve to be together, somewhere off in another world, escaping from their golden eggs...
avik-basu1889
The basic storyline of 'The Vanishing' involves a Dutch couple namely Saskia and Rex who have come to France as tourists with the intention of spending their vacation together. But they get separated when Saskia suddenly vanishes in thin air. Rex obsessively tries to find out what happened to her over the next few years while experiencing constant frustration and the film comes to a terrifying conclusion.I am writing this review after watching this for the 2nd time. After my first viewing I remember liking this very much. But after having watched this again, I have no hesitation in stating that I now love this film. There are so many things that I missed on my first viewing which I noticed now. Even though I knew what was coming and what the final climax will be all about, but I still think that the my 2nd viewing was more stimulating than the first one.First of all, 'The Vanishing' is a very visual film. There are so many visual metaphors and symbolism that the perceptive and attentive viewer will notice. Saskia tells Rex in the initial part of the film about one of her nightmares and after knowing the ultimate denouement, that dream seems like a premonition. The central theme of the film is destiny. The film explores whether you can defy what is predestined or will destiny always have the last laugh. One of the best things about the film is that we already know who the kidnapper of Saskia is right from the get go. He is not a Hollywood bad guy. He is almost the antithesis of every Hollywood villain. He is just an average guy who has a loving family, but his mind and his logic work in the most deranged way. In a great sense, this film is more about the exploration and the study of this kidnapper than anything else. The director takes his time to follow this character and observe his actions and the processes he employs and his experiments and his rehearsals to get ready for the actual kidnapping. 'The Vanishing', I think involves one of the most deep character studies of a psychopath and the climax which is the ultimate revelation is one of the most chilling and horrifying climaxes ever.The screenplay which gets non-linear at times is brilliantly written and it beautifully complements the visual style of the direction and the cinematography. The film takes its time to build up the characters and story instead of truckloads of forced exposition. So much about the characters and story is revealed with subtle movements of the camera or a subtle facial gesture or a subtle word that gets spoken. It really has all the understated subtlety that you expect from a European art-house film. The Vanishing is a beautifully made film that has everything that you want from a thriller, but it delivers all of that in a very visually artistic way. Highly recommended.
lasttimeisaw
My first George Sluizer's film, a bleak but tantalizing examination of psychological sociopath and the obsession of finding out the truth beneath. The plot-line is pretty straightforward, Rex (Bervoets) and Saskia (ted Steege) are a young Dutch couple on a vacation to France, en route, they stop in a busy gas station and Saskia is disappeared, three years later, the abductor Raymond Lemorne (Donnadieu) contacts Rex, the latter has been bedeviled by the incident ever since, Raymond asks Rex if he is willing to face the same treatment which Saskia had experienced so as to conclude his pathological obsession, his answer is astonishingly perverse and the finale is uncompromisingly gut-wrenching.The film starts with a foreboding tunnel accident, where Rex waywardly leaves Saskia alone in the pitch-black, there is a cryptic smile on his face when he is walking out of the tunnel to fetch gasoline, viewers may think - what is he thinking? what a complete jerk! Not to mention it is completely his fault for running out of gas in the first place! As one might expect Saskia will be mysteriously gone when he returns, it doesn't happen, but the scar is clearly lacerated, however they mend fences pretty soon, as Rex apologizes and explains that it is the moment when he leaves her there that he realizes how much he loves her. This perhaps justifies the smile, but it is deeply dark. They arrive the bustling gas station and Sluizer immediately introduces the perpetrator Raymond in parallel, but the narrative is still homing in on the lovebirds, after some casual flirting, a romantic ceremony to bury coins under one of the trees and a promise that she will never be abandoned by him, Saskia goes to the convince store and never comes back. After that, it is Rex's futile and desperate attempt to find her, until the morning after.Then, the film steers into Raymond's life, he is a chemistry teacher and has a perfect family, a gentle wife with two daughters admire him. But his dark side is innate, it is his passion to be a sociopath, his rehearsal of the abduction, detailedly recording his heart rates, it is utterly radical existentialism for him to implement his wrongdoings, he can be the hero to rescue a drowning girl, at the same time, he can ruthlessly murder a totally strange woman, there is no logical motivation, whatsoever, which is the most bone-chilling fact the film dares to divulge. Meanwhile, Rex is entrapped in the mystery, his persistence pushes his new girlfriend Lieneke (Eckhaus) away and his option between letting-go and embracing the worst outcome is the harbinger of his fate. When Raymond suddenly appears in front of him, apart from the initial rage, he is deadly under his clutches, up until the final decision, cogently enhanced by Henny Vrienten's thrilling score and the final blow is when finding the coins he and Saskia buried, he cannot run away from his oath, his suicidal act is simultaneously beyond credibility and thoroughly conceivable, it is the only way to follow his incubus to the hilt. The three leading performances are all awards-worthy, Donnadieu is formidably sinister and Bervoets singles out his desperation with awesome commitment, Johanna ter Steege, as the innocent victim, demonstrates how easily one can approach the doom by a whimsy of credulity. Arguably one of the darkest ending in the film history, THE VANISHING is the sort which one dare not to revisit since it leaves indelible imprint on one's memory with poignantly awe-and- shock side effect, it is also a cautionary tale to warn us never get into a stranger's car, no matter how innocuous or benevolent he or she looks.
